Attendance at Brewer games down 9.2%

[hawing]

Per Don Walker at JSOnline. This shouldn't surprise anyone here.

 

It would be interesting to know how much of the drop can be attributed to the 2009/2010 on-field results and how much to the economy - but I don't know how one could determine this without polling fans (especially the ones not buying tickets).

 

The Brewers do still rank 11th in MLB attendance, though. Woohoo?

[Diggr14]

wins are down about 20% so.. sort of goes hand in hand. I doubt they are surprised in Milwaukee. Wins = butts in seats. It's that way for every franchise.

 

the economy probably has something to do with it as people have lost their jobs and dont have the income to go to a game. Im not even sure what job loss numbers look like in the 5 county area - they were bad even before the recession we are in.

[InsomniacInkRoss]

If I remember correctly...

 

To get 2008 playoffs tickets you could buy (at minimum) a 20 pack for 2009 to guarantee seats, I am sure this added to a chunk of 2009 sales, which was not present this season.

[nate82]

Wins = butts in seats. It's that way for every franchise.

Not for Tampa Bay apparently. If the Rays were playing in any other city in MLB than the Tampa Bay area they would be drawing like crazy. The Rays are going to be lucky to draw 2 million fans which is really unacceptable for a team that is in playoff contention which brings this a little off topic but I won't be surprised if the Rays are gone in two or three years from the state. Which is rather sad but the Tampa Bay area has no one to blame but themselves for that really.

[Invader3K]

Well, they do have a bad stadium, but that never hurt the Twins that much when they were in the Metrodome.

[hawing]

If I remember correctly...

 

To get 2008 playoffs tickets you could buy (at minimum) a 20 pack for 2009 to guarantee seats, I am sure this added to a chunk of 2009 sales, which was not present this season.

Correct, Ross. Had the Brewers been enough in contention in August 2009 to be in a position to ask season ticket holders for "just in case" postseason deposits, the drop from 2009 to 2010 would probably have been somewhat less. I know it was easy for us to commit to 2009 knowing that the unused postseason $ from 2008 already covered about 3/4 of our 2009 ticket bill.

 

So, a combination of crummy economy + lack of postseason deposits from 2009 + 2009/2010 on-field results. The exact ratio, we'll never know.

[dadofandrew]

The economy is better than it was last year, the GNP is up for 2-3 quarters in a row. The drop is from season ticket equivalents being down, and a slight drop in walkups.

[And That]

The unemployment rate is still in the mid-9's. If people aren't working or are fearful of not working, they're less likely to buy tickets to a crappy team. If the unemployment rate was in the 4-5 range, I'd bet attendance would be down less than 5%.

[Invader3K]

I still think being 11th overall is pretty impressive given the various issues brought up.

[Polish Falcons]

Given that the average attendance in all of baseball is down by less than 1% between 2009 and 2010, I feel pretty confident concluding that the vast majority if not all of the Brewers 9% drop in attendance is due to poor on the field performance. The average attendance in MLB in 2009 was 30,298 and in 2010 it is 30,057 (http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance).

 

Other examples demonstrating how team performance drives attendance: the Cincinnati Reds attendance increased by 14% this year and the Padres are up by 8%. Conversly, the three teams that have seen the biggest drop offs are the of the Indians, Blue Jays, and Astros.

 

The economy probably plays some role but my guess is that it is very minor. Unemployment, even less. Even during strong economic times we have an unemployment rate of about 5%, so I don't see how a 4% spike would lead to such a drastic decline in attendance. Only if those 4% newly unemployed are coincidentally the biggest Brewer fans in all the world would that kind of number have a significant impact.

[dadofandrew]

MLB's drop is fictional, as it is caused by a lower capacity in new ballparks as much as anything. I'd say the record of the '09 team is more the reason for the drop than the '10 version, as that's why the full season equivalents are down.

[TooLiveBrew]

Are you saying the Twins getting a new park is affecting overall MLB attendance numbers from last season? I'm don't follow. That's the only new MLB stadium this season that I'm aware of.

[dadofandrew]

Am I a year off? Maybe so.

[Ennder]

This really isn't surprising at all. Going to the post season bumps attendance the next season so our 2009 numbers were inflated and likely not sustainable. I'd imagine this is a trend in baseball for teams that aren't generally playoff teams who suddenly make it one season.

 

That isn't to say that our record isn't part of it as well. We had a miserable 3 weeks in early May and have been a slightly over .500 team the rest of the year as expected and that is going to hurt attendance. If that miserable streak had happened in August I bet our attendance is higher on the year. The fact it happened so early hurt.

[jeffy]

Are you saying the Twins getting a new park is affecting overall MLB attendance numbers from last season? I'm don't follow. That's the only new MLB stadium this season that I'm aware of.

 

 

...and the Twins are up by about 10,000 fans per game over 2009, so they certainly are not accounting for a 1% decrease.

 

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance/_/year/2009

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I would like to know how much revenue is generated by the true ticket sales. How much money does the Brewers sell their tickets for the BP promotion for, and then all the tickets for charity and the tickets thats comped. As a 20 pack season ticket holder I have received free tickets. The wives charity events give away tickets as did when we bought the On Deck tickets.

 

In short, I'd like to know in real dollars, not attendence, how much revenue is generated by ticket sales compared to other teams.

[wisconsinfan47]

I'm not really worried about the attendance, and I'm actually pretty impressed. Even with the crappy play, we blow similar size cities / markets like KC, Seattle, Cleveland, Oakland, San Diego, Baltimore, and Cincinnati out of the water, and we're above or near the attendance of the Mets, White Sox, Tigers, Rockies, Braves, and Rangers, all of which a) play in cities significantly larger than Milwaukee, and b) are competitive in 2010

 

I honestly don't think we're ever going back to the pre-2004/2005 attendance levels as long as ownership is looking to compete and we've got potential stars like Braun, Gallardo, and hopefully Weeks locked up. I think Miller Park and the tailgating atmosphere also help to bring out the casual / indifferent fans that are not necessary there to see baseball.

[Invader3K]

Attanasio frustrated over Brewers season.

"This year, we have challenges," Attanasio said in a lengthy phone

interview from his Los Angeles office about his team, the Milwaukee

Brewers. "We know what they are. It's pitching, period. We don't have a

cultural problem where we think of ourselves as losers. Even the

(Cincinnati) Reds, they lost nine years in a row before this year. We

have our own issues and they start on the mound."

...

"We are going to have 2.7 million this year and we are going to lose

money," he said. "I think it's a foregone conclusion that we are going

to lose money this year. I don't see any way that's not going to be the

case. If you can't stand the heat, don't go into the kitchen. We are

committed to putting a winning team on the field. We did everything we

could to do that with a big push with pitching. We threw a lot of money

at it and it didn't work.

 

 

"We are going to be back to the drawing board and figure it out."

[Never Outhustled]

"This year, we have challenges," Attanasio said in a lengthy phone interview from his Los Angeles office about his team, the Milwaukee Brewers. "We know what they are. It's pitching, period.

 

 

 

 

Really Mark? You mean to tell me you have no idea that this team is very poor defensively, and that the good teams are all good defensively? Very disappointing. Pitching is part of the problem, but not the only problem. This means the last 2 years will continue into eternity. Its hopeless until Mark fires Melvin and brings in a GM who understands defense, and can explain the importance of it to Attanosio.

[1992casey]

I would think that the team's less than stellar performance is certainly a big reason for this year's attendance drop. And as others have mentioned, many 2009 season ticket sales were tied to the purchase of 2008 postseason tickets; that advantage wasn't present this year.

 

In 2009, attendance dropped pretty significantly industry-wide: 73,430,580 in 2009 vs. 78,624,315 in 2008. I think that part of the Brewers' 2010 decline is due to "catching up" with what happened in much of the industry last year.

 

 

EDIT: Let's not turn this topic into another referendum on Doug Melvin.

[dadofandrew]

They are -5 UZR/150 for the year. Very poor defensively seems a bit of an exaggeration. Every team in MLB is between +10 and -10 runs in team defense. It's hardly worth mentioning.

[Baldkin]

UZR is per 150 games, so sitting at -5 per 150 games, each game played is 7 defensive games, so that means they are giving up an out every 4 or so games. I guess I don't think that is insignificant.

They also have, by far, the biggest gap between FIP and ERA in baseball at 0.65.

[Never Outhustled]

They are -5 UZR/150 for the year. Very poor defensively seems a bit of an exaggeration.

 

 

23 teams are better defensively. Saying the Brewers are very poor defensively is completely accurate.

[logan82]

Very poor defensively seems a bit of an exaggeration.

 

Considering their only plus defender(or even above average defender) is their part time CF, I don't think poor defensively is a strong enough statement.

[Invader3K]

I don't think anyone can really claim the team isn't sub-par defensively. But clearly the biggest issue for this and last season has been the awful starting pitching. I think that was Attanasio's point.

 

I am somewhat heartened to hear his comments and recent ones from Melvin. Perhaps they have "seen the light" and won't be signing anymore 30+ year old mediocre free agent starters. We can only hope.